) rsa ose rrcanremmawenerct & 


“SUBMITTED TO THE — 


ih 


REPORT OF THE MINORITY 


SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF SEVEN, 


TO WHOM WAS REFERRED 60 MUCH OF 


GOV? ADAMS MESSAGE, NO. 1, 


AS RELATES TO 


SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 


CHARLESTON; 
_ HARPER & CALVO, PRINTERS, 125 EAST-BAY. 
1858. 


‘The undersigned, a minority of the special committee of seven to 
whom was referred so much of Message No. 1, of his late Excellency 
as relates to Slavery and the Slave Trade, begs leave to submit the 
following Report: 7 
Before entertaining the main question it has seemed to him proper pot of 
to ascertain the point of view from which it should be considered, and Wry the 


which 

for this purpose it is necessary to bear in mind the primary object for “s\"., 
which the Legislature of South Carolina is assembled. We have been °™*!4ered. 
entrusted by the people of the State with large discretionary powers, 
contained in a general grant and subject to but few positive restric- 

tions. Indeed there can scarcely be said to exist any limitations upon 

the discretion of the Legislature in its selection of means to accom- 

plish a given end, provided they fall within the class of “Laws;” but 


the legitimate objects of this legislation, though numerous, have one well 


‘ ascertained boundary—the Legislative power is to be exercised for the 


"benefit of the citizens of the State, to guard their rights, to protect 
and advance their interests. For themselves alone have they instituted 
a government, and invested it with almost unlimited control over life 
and property. They have avoided that ambitious imbecility, which, 
neglecting its own concerns, would prescribe philanthropic rules for 
the Universe. The first, then, and perhaps the only point of view 
from which this body must consider every question, is the probable 
advantage accruing therefrom to the State of South Carolina. Should 
the measure proposed be of no present or prospective advantage to the 
State, it does not fall within the grant of Legislative power; should _ 
the measure proposed be injurious to the State, whether or not its 
adoption would bless the whole world besides, it is self-evident that 
we not only have no right to force it upon our constituents, but in so 
doing would violate every principle of delegated and constitutional 
authority. The people have not yet granted to any agent, however 
exalted, the power of sacrificing them for the benefit of others; this is 
one of the reserved rights which have been retained by Society to be 


Certain qua- 
8i arguments 
to be first 
disposed of, 


4. 


surrendered only in its most solemn forms. In attempting to reach a 
satisfactory conclusion on the present question, the undersigned has 


% 


i 
¥ 
* 


carefully kept this fact in view. Were he sitting as a member of the — re ¥ rt 


King’s Council for Ashantee or Dahomey the result attained would — 
possibly have been different. Looking upon the ancestors of our slaves 


as they exist in their native land, clothed in filth and squalor, slaught- 
ering each other by law, upon the most trivial occasions, selling their 


wives and children to the pale-faced stranger, acknowledging no im- 
pulse save that of unbridled passion, no restraint save that of physical 
fear, without morals or religion, or the capacity for self progress, and 
barely removed from the brute by some faint idea of association; and 
then glancing across the Atlantic to the shores of America upon the 
four millions of slaves, their descendants, robust, cheerful, fed, clothed, 
cared for when sick and aged, instructed in the elements of religion, 
surrounded by the enlightenment of an advancing civilization, the 
vast majority contented in their present condition, and all in a position 
of moral and material welfare superior to the laboring classes of 
Kurope—in view of the striking contrast presented, the undersigned, 
as a friend of Africa, might well advocate the revival of the Slave 
Trade, and receive its agents as angels of mercy. But objects nearer 
home have profounder claims upon our philanthropy—friends, neigh- 
bors, fellow-citizens—and we have no right to jeopard their welfare 
even for the salvation of the African continent. And, indeed, the 
undersigned has confined his investigation to South Carolina; he has 
not considered the effect of the proposed measure upon the States 


beyond the Cape Fear, or the Savannah; not that he is indifferent to 
the happiness of those ancient commonwealths, for the Southern States 


of the Confederacy must live and die together, and the isolation of any 
one could only injure the general cause ; but because the history of 
our own State, her present condition, her wants, are familiar to us, 
and we have had bitter experience of the folly of those who from the 
recesses of selfish or conceited ignorance attempt to regulate the 
destiny of foreign Nations. Called upon as a Carolinian, to consider 
this question, he has considered it as a Carolinian. Having thus 
ascertained the proper point of view, viz: the advantage accruing to 
the State of South Carolina, it is next necessary to remove certain 
obstacles, that under the appearance of arguments, are calculated only 
to obstruct distinct vision and to distort the true proportions of the 
object to be considered, which is the more necessary upon the present 
occasion, since our habit of repelling, with indignation, what we have 
have justly considered the impertinent attacks of pseudo-philanthro- 
pists, has rendered it difficult for us—for the undersigned, at least— 


# ee 

» to regard any question connected with slavery in that light of im- 
partial and ‘dispassionate "reason, which and which alone the emer- | 
iw gency demands. I es * og th % 


sgt n deciding questions connected with Shaveng! fie is whe ihe utmost Ist. Tho 
importance to guard our judgement as to the propriety of any pro- pagan? es 
posed step, from being perverted by the opinions of those who are not 
brought into direct contact with the institution, and are consequently 
without the means of obtaining correct information, even if they 
possessed the requisite impartiality to aid us with their counsels. The 
undersigned would be loth to underrate the moral opinion of the 
world ; it is entitled to deference and reasonable submission; to main- 
tain the contrary would betray shallowness of intellect and obtuseness 
of moral sense. But nity cannot expect implicit obedience nor an 
exemption from just criticism ; we bow before it only when founded 
upon impartial reason and correct information, With neither of these 
requisites it has ventured to pronounce judgement upon the insti- 
tution of slavery, and it is well that the eyes of the Southern people 
should be ¢ pened to the fact, that they stand alone in the civilized 
world. “However political parties may be divided in Hurope, they 
have no sympathy with us. Absolutists dare not view with indif- 
ference a nation of republicans, who have up to the present succeeded 
in counterposing the destructive element contained in every free gov- 
ernment, and preserving the stability of their institutions through the 
conservative iufluence of Slavery. Weare a standing contradiction 
to their dogma of the incapacity of mankind for self-government, and 
a silent reproach upon the means necessary to maintain their power. 
The Democrats of Europe, the antipodes of American Republicans, 
hold us in still greater horror; theirs is the centralized absolutism of 
the many, changing its head day by day, and vibrating fitfully on the 
extremes of military empire and socialistic tyranny; to them the self- 
government of individuals, the corner-stone of our. system, as distin- 
guished from the mutual oppression of masses, is a stumbling block 
and foolishness. ‘The Aristocracy of privileged classes is dying of 
atrophy, and the puny remnants of that once powerful institution, 
struggling for bare existence, are but too anxious to discredit Repub- 
licanism by re-echoing the popular prejudices, The opinion, then, of » 
the outside world on slavery is entitled to less weight than upon 
almost any other subject, being destitute of every foundation which 
renders opinion respectable, and the undersigned concurs most heartily 
in pronouncing that a diseased sentimentality, which impels the 
fanatics of the North and England to dilate upon the horrors of slavery 
in the presence of those who are -perishing morally and physically 


beneath the oppression of capital. But while resisting those opinions a 
which would condemn slavery, it is equally necessary to refrain from 
following the false lights which would lead usin another direction to 
sanction the Slave Trade. The establishment of the Coolie and Ap- — | 
preatice Traffic has given an unfortunate and most unwarranted im- — 
pulse to this idea, as though we were to derive no lesson from the 
vices and crimes of our enemies save that of imitation. Perhaps, since 
the dawn of civilization, no system was ever entertained by enlight- 
ened nations, so thoroughly characterized by all that is odious and 
disgraceful in humanity, and at the same time so utterly devoid of 
every feature which could mitigate the evils, incident to all human 
transactions. Hven in its most barbarous days, the Slave Trade had 
some redeeming features; there was room for a hope, if not an expec- 
tation of eventual good; but the traffic in Coolies and Apprentices 
revives all the disagreeable features of slavery as it formerly existed 
in the West Indies, (but never here,) and what is infinitely worse, 
superadds the relentless tyranny exercised by capital over labor. 
With all the authority of a Master, the hirer of Apprentices is unre- 
strained by the sentiment of kindness, which every one feels towards 
his family of whatever color, or that other impulse, perhaps equally 
potent, which prompts every one to preserve his own property. For 
the first time in the history of the world, a system has been devised 
which encourages the Master to work his slave to death in a specified 
number of years. We may truly say, “ There was no such deed done 
nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the 
land of Egypt unto this day.” Far from furnishing an example the 
conduct of these abolitionists should arouse in us only those feelings 
which are inspired by the union of systematic cruelty with hollow 
hypocrisy; and rejecting that delusive folly which seeks an apology 
in the conduct or sympathy of others, we should act according to our 
internal convictions—the only source of true moral strength. 

Pi ae Another idea, which in the opinion of the undersigned, is without 

Nn any solid foundation, or any bearing upoz the main question, has 

an suit to been advanced in his Excellency’s Message, viz: that the punishment 

Cot er. Of Piracy, denounced upon the Slave Trade, stigmatizes property in 

ted. slaves as plunder. It is not worth while to stick in the bark of this 
objection, and show that Piracy and plunder are not necessarily cor- 
relative terms. Take the still broader proposition, that it is a stigma 
at all. The distinction existing in Nature, though very properly not 
recognized in Courts of Law, between malum prohibiium and malum 
en se, will scarcely be denied by an educated person. The one desig- 
nates an act that shocks our moral sensibilities, and is independent of, 


sot 


or rather anterior to, the necessities of associated existence, the other 
finds its origin solely in those necessities. The act itself may be in- 


‘nocent, but the consequences of this intrinsically innocent act may be 


s0 deleterious to society as to require its prohibition by law, under 


the sanction of punishment even unto death. Hxamples innumerable 


can be found in our statutes. The selling of lottery tickets is of itself 
an innocent act—-none more so, but the consequences are highly inju- 
rious to society ; and in view of these consequences, it is declared to 
be a crime, and severely punished. The circulation here of the small 
bank notes of other States is an innocent act; but to preserve our 
eurrency pure, it has been placed under the ban of a heavy penalty. 
Now, will any one pretend that a Carolinian, by purchasing a lottery 
ticket, or accepting a Georgia bank note, becomes thereby a criminal, 
or is stigmatized by the Statute as a cheat and a rogue? Is even the 
passer of a Georgia note subject to any other reproach than that of 
violating a regulation which tends to the preservation of good order? 
And so it is with offences against the Law of Nations. The right of 
private participation in offensive warfare, on land, was once univer- 
sally recognized ; it is now universally considered contrary to the Law 
of Nations. But because the offender is punished with death, is he 
therefore a murderer? Is it the punishment, and not the crime, that 
constitutes his disgrace? Is it not simply an arbitrary regulation, 
springing from the necessity, admitted in modern times, of regulating 
warfare, and rendering it a contest of nations, rather than of indi- 
viduals? Apply these undeniable principles to the Slave Trade. A 
pirate has been defined as hostis humant generts—an enemy to the 
human race; one who follows an occupation that is sanctioned by no 
government, and is injurious to all mankind. The world also sug- 
gests collateral ideas of maritime locality, cruelty, &., &e. Now 
suppose, for the sake of argument, it were universally admitted that 
the importation of wild Africans into a civilized country, would be 
highly injurious to that country; that the Africans also considered 
such exportation injurious to their own; suppose the trade to be car- 
ried on upon the ocean, and under circumstances oftentimes revolting 
to humanity; suppose it to be, moreover, perfectly consistent with 
Natural Law; suppose, finally, that the Nations of the World were 
unanimously to endorse the preceding propositions; every requisite to 
constitute the .offence of piracy would be present. The question is, 
whether the application of the term would stigmatize all the slaves 
held upon the face of the globe as “plunder.” The naked statement 
of the question is sufficient for its answer; no human ingenuity can 
justify an affirmative response. What possible connection can there 


/ 


be between the piracy of the Slave Trade and the American slaves, 
which were imported at least a dozen years before the enactment in 


question. We might as well say, that it stigmatizes the philanthropic — 
Las Casas, as a pirate. If there is nothing in the phraseology of 
these acts to countenance this idea, there is equally little in their” 


history. The principle upon which this legislation is based, found | no 
dissentient voice among the Southern members of Congress. Nor 
did their conduct spring from any puling sentimentality, as to the 
right of the white race to hold the African in bondage. Indeed, few 
prominent men in America, at that date, had doubts upon the subject. 
Washington, and the other great Southerners of his day, lived and 
died slaveholders, without suspecting that they thereby incurred moral 
guilt, or that, in preventing the importation of barbarians, they were 
legislating otherwise than for the benefit of slaveholders. They 
were equally removed, on the one hand, from intentionally stigma- 
tizing their property as plunder, and on the other from ascending the 
same platform with the heroes of the middle passage. It will be seen 
that the preceding remarks do not involve the question as to the pro. 
priety of the application of piracy to the Slave Trade, under existing 
circumstances, whether burglary or arson would not be equally appro- 
priate; the sole question, involved and considered, is, whether the 
application of the term ‘ plunder” to our slaves, follows from the 
application of the term “piracy” to the Slave Trade as a logical 
necessity ; or, considering the Southern votes by which these laws 
were passed, as a reasonable deduction. But even admit that a 
slave, obtained at the present day from Africa, is ‘‘ plunder,” this 
admission would not affect the title to our slaves. At the time when 
the importations were made into this country, Slavery and the Slave 
Trade were sanctioned by the public opinion of the whole world, and 
sedulously fostered by the very nations which are now our bitterest 
enemies. Hreedom for the negro, whether in Africa or America, was 
an exceptional condition ; in buying them our ancestors bought slaves, 
not freemen. By all human laws, then, our title was good in its in- 
ception ; nothing has since occurred to impair it, and it cannot be 
impaired by any epithet, however strong. But even go further, 
Suppose that our title was wrong in its inception and tainted with 
fraud and violence, that the Africans were freemen, our title would 
still be clear. The first question would be, can one man have a right 
to the unwilling physical labor of another; and of this right there 


can be no denial. It has been repeatedly recognized by the only 


revelation of Divine will, that has been vouchsafed to us: ; every nation 
has done the same in its municipal law; the various iy ere for 


indenting apprentices, hiring out vagrants and criminals, are based 
upon its express recognition; ‘and redress for one of the greatest in- 
juries to the parental relation is obtained through a fiction, which, as 
all other legal fictions, is entirely in harmony with the sentiments of 
- mankind. ‘There may be some law higher than all these, but if so, it 
is of too sublimated a character to guide the present race of mortals. 
If then, there is such an abstract right of property, would the fraud 
and violence in the inception of our title vitiate it at the present day? 
Such has never been the law of civilized nations, There is scarcely 
an acre of land in Kurope, the links in whose chain of title have not 
on various occasions been bedewed with the tears of despoiled widows 
and orphans. Yet could any one in his sound senses impugn the title 
of the present possessor upon this ground without falling into the 
slough of socialism? There is then, a vast distinction between up- 
holding Slavery and upholding the Slave Trade—a distinction shown 
- by the most learned Bishop England to have been recognized by the 
Catholic Church through all ages, and in the political history of this 
country, it will be seen by the contemporaneous Uongressional debates, 
that the Hast, while opposing Slavery, advocated the Slave Trade, 
while the course of the South was just the reverse. The cause of this 
difference will be no secret to those who are acquainted with the dif- 
ferent interests of the two sections. The undersigned then, perceives 
little reason for participating in the sensitiveness manifested at the 
epithet of piracy which our ancestors with singular unanimity affixed 
to the Slave Trade. 

Yet another idea has been advanced, which is calculated to influ- 
ence the question upon other grounds than its merits, viz: that if the Oe 
Slave Trade were now open we would be unwilling to close it, and 7° yh" 
hence it should be re-opened. The premise of this argument is by no Tris 4, 
means admitted; jealousy of Legislation upon the subject by Con- clos¢i*. 
gress would probably prevent our acquiescence in any measure from ‘**: 
that source; but if the question could be freed from the prejudices 
arising out of an excited controversy of a quarter of a century, it is 
by no means certain that the same arguments which were conclusive 
in 1787, would not be equally conclusive now. But even admit the 
premise, the conclusion does not follow at all. Of al! questions con- 
nected with government, that of labor is the most delicate; it is the 
one where most injury can be done, and where it is least possible to 
predict, with certainty, the result of any given movement. Most 
statesmen haye, therefore, avoided interference with the problem. Did 
the Slave Trade therefore exist, and were our industrial society 
founded upon a base of ignorant, barbarous, cheap laborers, we might 

2 


10 


hesitate when called upon to revolutionize the system, with the cer- 
tainty of giving a great shock to our institution, and in the utter im- 
possibility of foreseeing its consequences. The question was, however, 
dealt with by our ancestors, having, as became real statesmen, taken. 


every precaution. South Carolina anticipated the action of Congress — 


by more than twenty years; a short time previous to 1808 the Trade 
was re-opened for secondary reasons, and then closed forever. Every 
Congressman from the State voted for the measure with one exception, 
and he differed only upon a point of detail; in the whole House there 
were but five negative votes, one from New Hampshire, one from 
Vermont, two from Virginia, and one from South Carolina, all of 
whom had previously expressed their approbation of the end to be 
attained ; and none of these great men (for great they were) was ever 
known to regret the act morally, socially, politically or economically. 
So far, then, from drawing the conclusion above stated, it would be 
much more logical to draw exactly the contrary one of leaving our 
labor system in its present flourishing and prosperous condition. 

erate 1 Thus much space has been devoted to the mere preliminaries, be- 


ei itbe cause one of the great difficulties in the way of a fair discussion, has 


South “Gare, been to strip the question of all extraneous and confusing considera- 

eric tions. We now stand face to face with the main question; will the 
revival of the Slave Trade be advantageous to South Carolina? 

‘ The principal argument for the necessity of this measure seems to 

Arguments : 

in its favor be as follows: A monopoly of the production of Cotton is necessary 

considered. . x ; i ‘ 5 

rj Me to the South, but the price is, or will be, too high, and will stimulate 
the production of it elsewhere; to maintain our monopoly, we must 
have cheap labor; this can be procured only by re-opening the Slave 
Trade, and hence the conclusion. It is true, that another part of the 
Message says, the value of slaves will not be thereby reduced, but 

Would de- this seems somewhat inconsistent with the preceding argument. The 

crease the ‘ : : : 

value of our revival of the Slave Trade will either decrease or increase the value 

slaves. ° : ° : . 
of slaves, or it will be without influence upon their value. It can 
scarcely be supposed that the free importation of labor into a certain 
confined locality, as the Slave States are, will be totally without influ- 
ence upon the value of similar labor already there existing—this last 
supposition, may therefore be unhesitatingly rejected. Now, the fun- 
damental doctrine of political economy, without which, the whole 
science would fall to the ground—is, that if a certain quantity of a 
certain article is exposed to the market, the natural effect of the in- 
troduction of an additional quantity of the same article, will be to 
diminish its previous value, or in other words, that supply and de- 


mand are correlative. This axiom is true, beyond ali doubt, and its 


ig 


i vinci 
il 


ee 


11 


application is universal. "Siaves will be no more exempt from its 
operation than any other purchasable article. Hence the second 
‘supposition, that the importation of Africans will increase the price 
of negroes, must likewise, be rejected, and we are thrown back upon 
the first, viz: That the primary and natural effect of a revival of the 
Slave Trade Trade will be to diminish the value of slaves. Indeed, 
circumstances inseparably connected with the Institution would 
probably render the depressing effect of such importation, much 
greater than is expressed by a simple arithmetical ratio. There are 
in round numbers, 400,000 slaves in South Carolina. Suppose the 
importation of the first season to reach 100,000, and the traders to 
demand the highest market price, irrespective of the prime cost to 
themselves: the value of slaves, would by the law of supply and de- 
mand be immediately reduced one-fifth, and every slaveholder would 
find the marketable value of his slaves diminished by that amount, 
accompanied, not with an increase, but a decrease in the value of 
slave products, that being the desired end. But this supposition is 
even too favorable. It istsaid that Africans can be furnished far 
cheaper than our slaves. Suppose then, that the traders by force of 
competition among themselves, are content with the prime cost and a 
per centage, amounting, say to half the price of our slaves. The value 
of every article is ceterts paribus, the price at which a similar article 
can be purchased. Upon this supposition, then, the value of every 
slave here, would be reduced one-half, instead of one-fifth. Placing 
the average value of slaves at $700, the slaveholders of South Caro- 
lina, would lose upon each hundred slaves by the first supposition 
$14,000, and by the second supposition, $35,000. The general loss 
throughout the State, would be respectively $56,000,000 and $140,- 
000,000. This loss to them, might be compensated by a gain to 
some one else, but it would nevertheless, be still a loss to them, and 
in all those cases where the exchangeable value of slaves is taken into 
consideration, as in the payment of debts, distributions of estates, &c., 
&e., would be felt to this extent. The supposition of equality made 
to avoid intricacy of calculation, causes a slight inaccuracy in the 
above result, which can, however, be easily corrected by any one. 
But the end is not yet. The law of supply and demand holds very 
well until the demand is supplied; and then a very slight addition, 
particularly if accompanied by an unlimited prospective increase, 
causes a glut and a vast and instantaneous depreciation, which would 
be arrested only at the point where capital invested in the Trade 
yielded no greater return, than if invested in any other branch of 
Commerce. We have often seen this exemplified in the cotton 


12 


market, where an over-crop of a few hundred thousand bales, sends 
the price down to the subsistence point. In addition to the positive 
loss thus sustained by the owners of slaves, the reduction in their 
value would be injurious in another aspect, and one affecting the 
whole community. In a free country, cheap labor is accompanied by 
certain advantages; whether sufficient to counterbalance the disad- 
vantages is another question. The principal stimulus to free labor 
is necessity, and when that necessity is bare existence it attains its 
greatest force ; but the stimulus to slave labor is altogether different ; 
the market value has no effect upon the efficiency of the slave. In- 
deed, the probable effect, if any, would be to render slaves less indus- 
trious where they could be bought for a trifle, and consequently the 
pecuniary interest in each individual, would be less. We have also 
learnt by experience, that the Institution never possessed less vitality 
than when negroes were cheap; with the increase in their value, has 
increased the determination of the owners to resist emancipation, and 
at the present prices, there is little prospect of return of that apathy 
on the subject which existed in 1820 ar 1830. Admit, however, 
that the first step on the road to cheap cotton may be thus taken, it is 
Cheap ne- 
groes not not the only step; we may have laborers cheap enough, but between 
ahem i cheap laborers and cheap labor, there is a great stride. The under 
ae signed ventures to affirm, from the evidence of others, and from what 
he himself has seen, that an American slave removed three genera- 
tious from the parent stock, is even a mere labor machine, worth a 
half more than a native African, The continual call upon a race du- 
ring successive generations, for the manifestation of certain qualities 
is, through a species of appetency kindly responded to by nature, 
provided her tendencies are not thwarted by ill-treatment or other 
disturbing cause, but gently aided in their development. A family 
or a nation, which for ages is given up to intellectual or physical sloth, 
becomes gradually not only less and less willing, but less and less 
capable of exertion, and requires strong exciting causes to restore its 
equillibrium. And so a race, which for genations, is devoted to toil, 
becomes gradually wrought up to a high degree of efficiency. The 
world is full of examples; we have them near us. The Americans 
as a race, are unused to dull and continued physical labor; they are 
prone to work with their heads, rather than their arms, and to make 
nature, through the controlling influence of machinery, do her own 
heavy work. Hence it has been invariably found,- that heavy 
drudgery, such as excavating mines or tunnels, is performed by cer- 
tain foreign races, emigrants to this country, who have been inured to 
this species of labor; we are almost incapable of such lifeless, 


13 
thoughtless exertion. Any Railroad President can confirm the truth Our slaves 
of the facts stated. Our slaves have been educated to labor for at educated to 


' s ‘ . i - reater effi- 
least three generations ; their bodies and minds are attuned io it, and Hide 


each succeeding generation will probably be more efficient than its 
predecessor. Tar different is the African; idleness and sensual inac- 
tivity are his normal condition; he is neither physically nor mentally 
eapable of voluntary exertion, and when imperious necessity demands 
labor at his hands, he is driven only by fear of the sword in Africa, 
and the lash in the West Indies. A gang of Africans going forth in 
the morning cheerfully to work, as do our slaves, or the peasantry in 
Kurope, would indeed be a novel sight. Any doubt as to the existence 
of this difference, can be easily removed by a visit to those portions 
of the world where the slave trade yet flourishes. The increase of 
. labor then, under this system, would by no means be proportionate to 
the increase of laborers, and not only that, but the effect of discharg- 
ing one hundred thousand idle, slovenly, insubordinate barbarians 
among our educated, civilized negroes, would be to depreciate by con- 
tamination, the whole mass down toa point somewhere below the 
arithmetical average efficiency. So that it would be necessary to 
import, not only the specified amount considered in itself, but also 
such an additional quantity as would compensate for the depreciation 
in the value of our slaves as laborers. Suppose us now, however, to 
have attained a cheap labor; a step yet remains, since labor is but 
one of the elements of cost between the producer and the manufac- 
turer ; but this point will be discussed in another place. It must also 
be considered in this connection, that for economical purposes, con- Nett profits | 
centration of efficiency is desirable for many reasons, more particularly sreater. 
where human beings are concerned. A plantation of slaves will eat, 
drink, and wear as much after as before the revival of the Slave Trade, 
nor will physicians charge the less, for the price of all articles, not 
the produce of slave labor, will be beyond its infiuence. The annual 
running expense then, of growing a certain amount of cotton, will be 
greater, and the net profits two degrees less. Where indeed, a neces- 
sity of life is consumed in the country of its production, it is preferable 
that the larger quantity should be produced even at less profit, be- 
cause in the abundance of such products consists the well-being of a 
population. But where the article is raised only for exportation, the 
producing nation is interested in the net profits alone. Such is our 
situation with respect to cotton. A. net profit of $100,000,000 upon 
6,000,000 bales, would render us no better off than a similar net 
profit upon 3,000,000, but rather the contrary, for in the first case 
the additional labor for the production of the additional 3,000,000 


“ 


Who would 
benefit by 
cheap cot- 
ton. 


14 


bales would have produced no additional income, and was therefore 
diverted from some other and remunerative occupation. ° 
Suppose us now, at this fearful cost, to have attained the object of 
the problem, cheap or cheaper cotton, a question yet remains, prelimi- 
nary to any action, for whose advantage is all this to be accomplished ? 
Who is to profit by cheap cotton? It is said that the price is, or will 
be, too high; but this the undersigned does not admit. The absolute 
price is certainly greater than it was, but it seems to have been -for- 
gotten that the price of everything else throughout the commercial 
world has risen through a combination of three causes—the great 
accumulation during a long peace, of past labor in the shape of capital, 
the effect of which is real—the increase of the circulating medium, 
the effect of which is fictitious, and a sucecssion of moderate crops, 
effect of which is transitory. When the effect of these causes is duly 
considered, it will be found that the price of our great staple is not 
much higher than we might reasonably demand ; that it is higher than 
the manufacturers wish, is doubtless true; but it is equally true, that 
the increase of a few cents in the pound would be a matter of no great 
importance to them; the prime cost of the cotton being only a small 
portion of the price they impose upon their customers for the manu- 
factured goods, and such increase added to the cost of these would 
scarcely be left by the consumer. The efforts made by England to 
produce this staple elsewhere are due, principally, to another cause. 
The general objection to our cotton is, that it is slave cotton—to some 
few it is odious as American cotton. This objection, in the minds of 
many, springs from the common fanaticism; but with the vast ma- 
jority itis produced by real apprehension as to the stability of the 
Institution of Slavery; the prevalent idea abroad being that Southern 
society slumbers on a volcano, and at any unexpected moment may 
be overthrown by a political convulsion—such as has just shaken the 
British Empire in India. It would not be relevant to the present 
question to show the unfounded nature of this belief; it exists, and 
the conviction that the destruction of slavery would cause the downfall 
of the industrial supremacy of England, has awakened a universal 
desire to discover some source of supply independent of what they 
consider a toppling institution. The increase of this species of pro- 
perty, in its most objectionable form, by a revival of the Slave Trade, 
would certainly not tend to increase their confidence. That the South 
does enjoy to a certain extent, a monopoly of cotton is, perhaps, true; 
and it is not surprising that so novel a situation should cause uneasi- 
ness. It generally happens, and perhaps, fortunately for mankind at 
large, that the production of an article exceeds the demand; and the 


15 


excess of abundant years is thus stored up to meet the deficiencies of 
short crops. The prices are consequently regulated by the con- 
sumer—not the producer—who must be content with just what he can 

get; hence the continual struggle by producers to obtain control of 

the prices through the agency of tariffs. Agricultural nations have 

thus been generally subject to the consumers of their products, and 

at the same time the prey of those who produce articles which they do 

not. The Southern States have never yet asked this unjust inter- 
ference of government in their behalf; and it would seem a judg- 
ment from Heaven, that they alone, of all the nations on the earth, 
should enjoy a monopoly. Is it probable that any attempt will be 
successfully made to deprive them of this monopoly, which could be 
thwarted by the revival of the Slave Trade? it is not pretended that Bf pie 
we have any other rivals to fear than Brazil and the Hast. As to the can be de- 
former, it is sufficient to say that itis a slave power; and its late es 
legislation shows, that in a few years the slave trade will either be a 
suppressed entirely or re-opened, If the latter, there is no reason for 

our interference ; if the former, then it would be subject to the same 
disadvantages as our own country, with the addition of an inferior 
climate and an inferior population. . There is nothing, then, to fear 

from this quarter. In the Hast there is still less cause for uneasiness ; 
cheap labor they have, and have had there—far cheaper than ours; 

and great efforts have been made to foster the cultivation of cotton, 

but the result has, as yet, been a failure. For this, a combination of 
many causes has been assigned; the most gratifying, as well as the 

~ most conclusive, being the unsuitable nature of the climate, which is 
invincible. But if such were the situation of affairs a year ago, how 
much less cause to fear rivalry exists now, when the British India 
Empire is shown to be a pyramid, resting on its apex of a few Huro- 
peans, who, by the laws of climate, cannot found a race, with a_ base 

of hundreds of millions of fanatical and inimical natives. Besides, ’ 
the cotton of India is of so inferior a quality as to be almost a dif- 
ferent article—it cannot comply with the requisitions of the market 
now; still less will it be able to do so, as luxury increases and finer 
stuffs of pure cotton, or articles adulterated with cotton are demanded 

A planter of Sea Island might as well express apprehension as to ex- 
tended cultivation of the short staple, asan American planter about 

the India cotton. It cannot even inspire us with a secret wish for the 
downfall of the British dominion; our interest and the voice of hu- 
manity concur in desiring its stability. Wherever that nation carries 

its arms and institutions, liberty for the dominant race and material 
prosperity for all, go with them; and the consumption of American 


16 ' 


cotton seems to be an equally inseparable concomitant. But even 
suppose that the Hast did send to Europe a considerable quantity of 
its inferior product, there would still be little ground for fear. In 
proportion as civilization and refinement penetrate the masses of Wes- 
tern Europe, experience shows that agricultural labor becomes dis- 


tasteful; such is also the case in the Northern portions of this 
Confederacy ; the increase of the population is found to be principally — 


in the cities and towns; and in France, the rural population is even 
decreasing. The causes of this movement exist in the nature of 
their civilization, and will continue to exist, as could be shown, if it 
were necessary. This city population must be mainly supported by 
manufacturing ; and, in the course of time, long after we have been 
gathered to our fathers, perhaps the whole of that Continent will pre- 
sent the spectacle, now furnished by England, of an immense mass, 
not compelled, yet ready to enter upon the manufacture, and to re- 


ceive our staples upon our own terms. The inferior cotton of India 


would be swallowed up in this demand, while our short staple would 
occupy towards it the same relation which now exists between Sea 
Island and the short staple. Certainly no situation could be more 
agreeable. The undersigned has not discussed the necessity of this 
monopoly, as it is called; he has contented himself with showing that 
whether or not, it be necessary, we are in no danger of losing it. If 
then, there is no great evil impending over South Carolina, which a 
reduction in the price of cotton could avert, the question again recurs 
who will receive the benefit of this reduction, and the inevitable 
is, the British purchaser. His gains will be certain and immediate; 
ours, at best, contingent and prospective. Thus, after years of toil, 
spent in convincing the world of the propriety of the Slave Trade, or, 
in trampling their prejudices under foot—after revolutionizing and 
remodelling, with infinite risk, one of our most important social insti- 
Menufactu- tutions; after filling our fair land with hideous barbarians, we find the 
would Prost. barren result of our labors to be an increase in the profits of our bit- 
terest foes, whose only sympathy with us is through the pocket. Oh! 
most lame and impotent conclusion! which every one, despite the 
threatening shades of India and Egypt, must hope will never be real- 
ized. So much for the argument of cheap cotton. 
oa ul Another prominent argument in fayor of this measure is, that at 
ment—that present labor is gradually transferred from South Carolina to the 


we suffe 

under 0 West, and that this emigration finds its only remedy in a corres- 

gh invent pondizg immigration or importation. That a very considerable emi- 
' gration, both of whites and blacks, from the Atlantic States to the 


valley of the Mississippi, exists, is undoubtedly true, whether to the 


17 


injurious extent represented, cannot be positively ascertained until 
1860. It is scarcely greater than in the decade from 1840 to 1850, 
during which period, the slave population of South Carolina increased 
from three hundred and twenty-seven thousand and thirty-eight to 
three hundred and eighty-four thousand eight hundred and eight, 


being eighteen per cent., notwithstanding the great drain upon it. 


Moving pictures have been drawn of mansions crumbling, plantations 
gone to ruin, &c., &e., from want of labor. It has not been the for- 
tane of the undersigned, in his journeys through the State, to find 
these statements substantiated by the facts; on the contrary, pros- 
perity is everywhere visible, everywhere lands have risen in value, 
everywhere wealth is accumulating, and were it not for the draft upon 
our resources by the summer absenteeism, the invested capital would 
be immense. Certainly no portion of the United States has devel- 
oped more rapidly and solidly than the valley of the French Broad 
since the attention of summer travellers has been turned in that di- 
rection. But, suppose the fact to be as stated, that this industrial 
exhaustion really exists. Does the revival of the Slave Trade offer a 
remedy? The agricultural staples of South Carolina are three—rice, 
Sea Island cotton and upland cotton. The rice cultivation is confined 
to a small strip of territory, commencing with Cape Fear and ending 
with certain rivers in Georgia. The crop is not very great compared 
with the general production of breadstuffs among the nations with 


Would the 

slave trade 
offer an ad- 
equato rem- 


edy for the 


transfer to 
the West. 


whom we are in commercial communication; it is not a necessary of ®¢ Crop. 


life, but belongs rather to the class of semi-luxuries; it is not a subject 
of speculation, and each individual consumer requires but little; no 
one ever curtails his consumption on account of the increase in price. 
Owing to these circumstances and the superior quality of the Carolina 
article, it is a real monopoly, as is proved by the high price of rice 
lands. ‘The cost of the item of labor is, therefore, a matter of com- 
parative indifference to the planter; the consumer, not he, pays for it. 
It is not pretended that any one will move West to cultivate this 
staple cheaper than here, simply because similar lands are not to be 
obtained there. This staple then, stands aloof from the present ques- 
tion an indifferent spectator. The next is Sea Island cotton, which 
occupies, in all essential features, the same position as rice. The ter- 


Sea Island 


ritory suitable for its cultivation being limited to a few Islands along cotton. 


the eoast, is absolutely without a rival, unless we except Algiers, 

which, as yet, has-been an experiment, and a very sickly one. The 

idea of moving elsewhere to cultivate this staple is consequently pre- 

posterous; it always has been, and always will be, a monopoly. Its 

use is confined to manufactures of luxury. As the old distinctions of 
3 


18 


birth, rank and intellect, having lost their political influence, disap- 
pear socially under the jealousy of commerce, wealth alone will be 
desirable, and parvenus, but more particularly their females will be 
anxious to assert its privileges by a display of profusion, espe- 
cially since from the equal subdivision of property among heirs, and 
the universal prodigality of the second generation, it. is nearly im-— 
possible to transmit riches to posterity This state of things leads 
directly to great extravagance in dress; such has long been the case 
at the North, and the same fate is reserved for Western Kurope. Now 
Sea Island cotton is almost entirely consumed, in ministering to this 
vanity, and as it increases and its base widens (such is the tendency 
of modern equality) so will the demand for this staple increase. The 
cost of labor is therefore a matter of indifference to the planter, as it 
is paid eventually by those to whom such an item of expense would 
be trifling. We hear no talk of Sea Islands deserted, and there is 
still less prospect of such an event in the future. Indeed, there are 
no evils to apprehend for this class of our population, except those 
which result from excessive wealth. | 
The last staple is upland cotton, and it must be here that this ruin 
Cotton. 18 visible, if it exist at all. Leaving to others the task of making a 
diagnosis of the disease under which the body politic is said to labor, 
let us inquire what has produced this emigration of slaves. The 
fause of er elements of price are three: Ist. The passive element of production, 
ornegroes. “viz: land and its incidents. 2nd. The active element of production, viz: 
labor and its incidents, and 3rd. Transportation. If capital flow to 
the West it must be because one of these elements is more efficient 
there than here. It cannot be the 3rd; transportation is no cheaper 
there than here, but the contrary. Neither can it be the 2nd, for a 
slave is as efficient here as there, nor is there any labor saving ma- 
aes eae chinery known to them, the use of which is debarred to us. The 
iveness of advantage then, which causes the scale to preponderate in their favor 
must be connected with the 1st element, viz: the land, and it is un- 
doubtedly true, that in a considerable portion of the South West, a 
given quantity of land will produce a greater amount of cotton, owing 
partly to its virgin soil, partly to its greater natural adaptation to this 
plant. Having thus ascertained the cause of this transfer of capital, 
Slave trade the question is, will the revival of the Slave Trade afford a remedy. 
for thie, It must be premised that the importation of Africans, by destroying 
the bond of affection, which attaches the master to his’slave will ren- 
der this species of property, more mobile and sensitive to the call of 
profitable investment. Now, the revival of the Slave Trade will be 
without influence on the first element; it will neither make the land in 


% 


? 


South Carolina more fertile, nor that on the Red River less so; hence 
this element will remain unaffected. Neither will it affect greatly the 
third element, transportation. It will, by supposition, affect the 
second, it will render negroes cheaper all over the South. But this 
is not sufficient, it is the relative not the absolute effect that is de- 
sired, it must render them cheaper here than there, to restore the 
balance which we are said to have lost. Will it? The cost of trans- 
porting a slave from Guinea to New Orleans will be no greater than 
to Charleston. No reason can be given why it should be, and none 
exists. The Ist and 3rd. elements, then, will remain as they were 
before; the second will be affected, but not unequally, and the same 
inequality in the first element which causes the transfer of capital 
now, will continue to do so then. The slave trade then, will not af- 
ford a remedy. Is there, therefore, none? Far from it. Time itself rhe true 
will eventually rectify the evil, by the joint process of raising the” 
lands of the West to their proper value and by wearing them out. 
The equality between the cotton lands and the rice lands in Carolina, 
has been restored in this manner, so that there is now no emigration 
from one to the other.. But there is another remedy much more 
worthy of a statesman’s ambition, which consists in rendering any 
one, or all three of the elements of price, more efficient at home. 
Take the first element, can the production of land of certain natural 
fertility be increased profitably to the owner? The reply to this ques- 
tion has been developed into a great science owing to the very neces- 
sity of which complaint is now made, the problem being with a given 
amount of land and labor to increase the production, and nations vie 
with each other in attaining satisfactory solutions ; improvement is 
rarely attempted upon virgin lands, but we have reached the point 
where such improvement is required and will be profitable, as is evi- 
denced by the formation of Agricultural Societies, and other steps 
lately taken in this direction; a vigorous impulse only, is needed to 
stimulate an individual activity which would cause throughout the 
State, two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before. The 
undersigned has been informed, that an experiment lately made in 
Edgefield, has caused lands, once considered worthless, to be ranked 
‘now among the best in the district. Nor are such experiments costly, 
the most powerful agent—the intellect—existing already but in a 
state of inactivity. This is, moreover, the true road to national 
wealth ; an increase in the amount of labor may be merely transitory : 
it may take to itself wings and fly away, but the improvement of land 
becomes a part of the land itself; it is permanent and can never escape. 
As the first so is the second element susceptible of infinite improve- 


3d. Argu- 
ment—that 
it is for the 
advantage 

of the poor 
non-slave- 

holder. 


20 


ment. Educate the slave to efficiency, teach him that itis his in- 
terest to cultivate properly the estate, which supports him and his 
master alike; make the Carolina slave in his position of life, what the 
Carolina freeman aspires to be in his, preserve him from the contami- 
nation of native Africa vice and idleness, furnish him with the best 
agricultural implements suited to his capacity, let science and inge- 
nuity aid his physical power and moderate intellect, and a great step 
will be taken in restoring the balance of productiveness. It is need- 
less to say, that the revival of the Slave Trade, filling the land with 
stupid and ignorant laborers, would be an absolute bar to any im- 
provement of this sort. The 3rd. element is equally susceptible with 
the others of improvement, by extending the means of communication, 
and by increasing through economy and energy in the administration, 
the efficiency of those already in existence. But it is scarcely neces- 
sary in this age of Railroads, to dwell upon the advantage of cheap 
transportation. It thus appears, that the revival of the Slave Trade 
would not remedy the evil here complained of, but would rather 
aggravate it by preventing the adoption of really efficient measures. 
Another argument has been used in respectable quarters which «is 
approached with reluctance, and considered only because its dangerous — 
tendency imposes the duty of meeting it directly.and promptly. It is 
said, that this measure is for the advantage of the poor non-slave- 
holder, and hinted that the opposition to it springs from a determi- 
nation on the part of slaveholders, to prevent the participation by 
their poor fellow-citizens, in the enjoyment of this description of 
property, and to maintain a species of slave aristocracy. Many of — 


those who advocate the measure would, doubtless; repudiate with 


horror such an argument, reiterating in substance as it does, the 
most offensive slauder of the abolition press; but as it has been used 
once, so it will probably be used again if necessary to success. The 
effect is to place the von-slave-holders in opposition to the slave- 
holders and to generate that worst of contests—one.of property. Of 
all arguments advanced, this is at once the weakest and the most 
dangerous. It is said that the price of labor will be reduced, and 
hence the poor non-slaveholder can purchase a negro. If the non- 
slaveholder is poor he has no source of wealth but his own labor, yet 
the very argument admits that the effect of the Slave Trade will be 
to cheapen labor. In proportion then, as the labor to be bought is - 
cheapened, so also, will be cheapened the labor that is to buy, and 
though the article to be purchased, costs only half as much, yet the 
capacity of the poor non-slaveholder to purchase will be only half as 
great. It would require an exceeding ingenuity to show how his situ-. 


21 


ation has been improved. The argument, however, will doubtless 
have a certain degree of weight with those for whom it was intended, 
and must be met there. If then, the slaveholders would lose, and the 
poor non-slaveholder would not gain, who would? The remaining 
class is that of rich non-slaveholders, and since this is a very small 
portion of the community, it is needless to discuss the impropriety of 
sacrificing nine-tenths to the other one. 

Were the undersigned, then, to regard only the arguments in favor 4, susion 
of this measure, he would be opposed to it, as a mere experiment, “sede 
doubtful and with feeble promise of advantage; but when the objec- i” its favor. 
tions are also taken into consideration, the conclusion becomes irre- 
sistible. 

In the first place, consider the number of Africans which it will be objections. 
necessary to import for the attainment of any given end—take the number 
end proposed ; the reduction in the price of slave staples (which will apaseebien 
include the one of increasing the amount of slave labor,) and suppose °° ™?"* 
it be desirable to decrease these prices any given ratio, say one-half. 

Now, the number of slaves in the United States is about four millions. 
As it is necessary, of course, to double the amount of labor, the im- 
portation of at least an equal number of Africans from Guinea will be 
required. But, as we have already seen, the increase of labor in this 
case, is not proportionate to the increase of laborers. From what the 
undersigned has seen in the West Indies, coinciding with the experi- 
ence of those who have had better opportunities of comparing Ameri- 
can slaves with native Africans, the conclusion drawn of one-half in 
favor of the superior efficiency of the former is not too great; one- 
third is certainly within bounds; three Americans are surely equal 
to four Africans; the number then, to be imported, will be 4-3 of four 
millions. The value of our slaves in a mere industrial point of view, 
will also be depreciated by contamination at least 1-4, equal one 
million, which will require an additional importation of 4-3 of one 
million, in all equal to 4-3 of four millions, plus to 4-3 of one million. 
Nor is this all. We have seen that labor is but one of the elements 
of price; to reduce the price of any article one-half, it is necessary to 
reduce the cost, not only of one, but all its elements) Now, we have 
seen that the Slave Trade will not affect the first element, the land, 
nor to any great extent the third, the transportation. but only the 
second, the labor. It follows, then, that the effect produced by the 
Slave Trade upon this last element must not only be equal to one-half 
of itself, but also compensate for its inefficiency as to the other two. 
It is difficult to express the result in figures, because the statistics do 
not furnish the means of ascertaining the proportion contributed to 


22 


the price by each element; but two-fifths would scarcely be too great 
a proportion for the land and transportation, leaving three-fifths for 
the labor alone. The reduction upon this 2-5 (equal to 2-3 of the 
labor element) is to be accomplished by the same means, that is, an 
additional importation of 2-3 of 4 millions of American slaves will be 
required, which by the previous calculation, is equal to 4-3 of 2-3 of 
4 millions of Africans. Hence the grand total of importation to ac- 
complish a reduction of 1-2 in the price of slave staples will be 4-3 of 
4 millions, plus 4-3 of 1 million, plus 4-3 of 2-3 of 4 millions, equal 
to 10 2-9 millions. The result will doubtless be surprising to those 
who are in the habit of reasoning loosely on such subjects, and of con- 
sidering political problems as involving only one condition, and to be 
solved by simple arithmetic alone, whereas the calculus would be a 
much more suitable instrument of investigation. Not that the un- 
dersigned believes for a moment, that the project would go thus far ; 
quite the contrary; he has given the measure the benefit of every 
possible contingency, of supposing that the action of the laws of trade 
upon this commerce would be healthy, and that the decrease in the 
price of the product would be proportioned only to the decrease in the 
cost of production; whereas, long before the cupidity of the King of 
Dahomey or the philanthropy of the slave trader, were satisfied, the 
market would be giutted, slave labor worthless, and incubus upon the 
country, the price of its products barely above the point of physical 
subsistence owing to the necessary competition among producers. We 
should see again, the times of 1844-5, cotton down to 5 or 6 cents, 
the Enylish manufacturer bloated with wealth and the Planter scarcely 
able to purchase provisions or clothing for his slaves. 

ie Having thus formed some opinion as to the number of Africans, 

these. which it will be necessary to import in order to produce an appreciable 
effect upon our economical situation, it is advisable next, to consider 
the character of this population, with which the land is to be filled. 
From the conscientious and respectable Wilberforce down to the 
“scrub” Yankee agitator of the present day, it has been the cant of 
Abolitionists to dwell upon the native African, as a paragon of all the 
virtues combined in the human breast; his kindness, humanity, at- 
tachment to the domestic ‘ties have been portrayed in florid colors. 
This is but the voice of fanaticism; the impartial world cannot be al- 
ways blind to the truth. In his native land, the African is a barba- 
rian. <A faint attempt at society, founded, it is true, upon the sword, 
and some notion of the culinary art alone lift him above the savage ; 
in all other important respects they are alike. Even his society is but 
a series of despotisms ; each superior grade being absolute master of 


23 


that beneath it; laws and self-control are unknown, and cruelty is es- 
teemed an appropriate manner of manifesting the most elevating emo- 
tions—religion, grief, joy for victory. It, is needless to refer to the 
sanguinary ‘‘ customs” so often described by travellers. Polygamy, 
theft, violence and falsehood, are virtues; nothing is so ennobling as 
the gratification of revenge, and the more cruel the means, the more 
credit tothe actor. The shedding of blood is grateful to their God. 
whose attributes are of the most bestial description. A violent death 
is the natural and anticipated end of a vicious life. Add to this a dis- 
like of foreigners as manifested in the assassination of travellers, and 
we have a faithful picture of negro life at home. Between them and 
us there is no sympathy, no point of contact; our system of civiliza- 
tion and theirs of barbarism cannot exist side by side ; one must yield. 
In Africa, death to the European is the method of reconciling this in- 
compatibility. Such is the population, which, chattering a foreign 
tongue, is to be distributed in myriads throughout the land. 

It cannot be supposed that this vast and novel influx would affect . tes 
our slaves only in an economical point of view. All history and ex- our slaves. 
perience teach that the infusion of an inferior class of beings in the 
midst of those who, from whatever cause are their superiors, is detri- 
mental. Had not that crowd of wretched foreigners and barbarians 
flowed into Rome during the latter days of the Republic, and by con- 
tamination, corrupted the Roman Plebs , she had never lost her liber- 
ties. Her regeneration required the invasion of another race, rude, is 
true, but hardy in all the virtues that form the strength of manhood. 
We have seen the position in the scale of existence, occupied by the 
native African, it is not venturing upon debateable ground to assign 
a totally different and higher position to the American slave. The 
foundation of character is doubtless the same, but here every influence 
is brought to develop its favorable, there its unfavorable side; here 
his vices are repressed by force, if need be, there they procure him 
distinction and importance ; here he is elevated and sustained by an 
all-powerful civilization, there the effect of natural barbarism keeps 
him to a stagnant level. Indeed, so completely has a residence of 
several generations in a christian land altered his being, that but for 
his intellectual inferiority, his color, and his want of the power to 
stand alone, the American slave would scarcely be recognized as of the 
same race. Labor is no longer so essentially repugnant to his dispo- 
sition, as to necessitate the continual terror of the lash to force him to 
its discharge. He feels an interest in the soil upon which he works, 
and recognizes the solidarity existing between himself aud his owner. 
He is attached to the family when treated with kindness, is proud of 


= 


24 


his young master and mistress, and who greeted us on our return 
home during the school vacations, with a warmer welcome or a more 
beaming face than the old servants of the household. He is unac- 
quainted with the pleasures and pains of freedom, nor has he ever seen . 
his own race in that position, with the exception of a few wretched 
half-breeds, that linger about, exciting neither his respect nor his en- 
vy. He regards the white man as something superior; considers lib- 
erty as peculiar to him, and not within the reach of the slave. Hence 
he has but little aspiration towards that which he cannot by any possi- 
bility attain. Nature has created him to obey the commands of a su- 
perior, and the thought of resistance rarely crosses his mind otherwise 
than as a mere transient idea, excited by some peculiar circumstance, 
Obedience has consequently become a part of his nature ; he obeys not 
from fear, but from education. His moral nature is instructed; he is 
no longer a mere animal of toil; he knows the difference between 
right and wrong; that because he is a slave, he is not therefore free 
from the obligations of duty, but is responsible as a moral agent.— 
True he has not the intellect to comprehend the great truths of Chris- 
tianity, but it has teachings suited even to his capacity, and it will 
require exceeding hardihood ‘to deny the weight of such considerations. 
In the midst of this people, of whom we are the moral, as well as the 
physical guardiazs, it is proposed to introduce a class of creatures in 
all essential developments entirely different, who do not what they are 
commanded, but what they are forced to do, who recognize no duties, 
who have never heard of laws, to whom industry is unknown, who are 
yet to learn that treachery and blood-shedding are wrong, who have 
been torn from their native land, and transferred to a strange soil and a 
strange climate, to obey the behests of a strange master. What will 
be the effect upon our slaves? Those who anticipate only the eleva- 
tion of the barbarian, have sadly misread history, and particularly the 
history of this race. There are races in the world capable, apparent- 
ly, of indefinite self-development, as the Celtic, the Teutonic; others 
have this power up to a certain degree, as the Egyptians, and perhaps 
the Chinese ; others are without it, and prominently among them them 
the negro race. They receive all light from above; it is not only ne- 
cessary that they should be subjected to good influences, but to none 
save good influences. The tendency of such is always downwards, 
and evil communications will corrupt more than good examples can 
improve. Hence it is, that our planters make such a point of sending 
an incorrigible negro entirely out of the State. The great improve- 
ment which we, under Providence, have been the means of effecting, 
is owing to the fact that the slave-trade never flourished in America, 


25 


and for many years has been suppressed. Re-open ‘this flood gate of 
impurity, and all that we have accomplished in half a century would 
be lost; the cheapest defence of our institution would be sacrificed to 
a mere experiment, the good and the bad would be irrevocably con- 
founded, and what would be the moral specific gravity of the compound 
it is distasteful to conjecture. So much for the effect upon our slaves. 
As masters, we would have still less reason to be gratified with the pect upon 
result. In.the present condition of South Carolina, agricultural life "° ™**'"* 
is preferred by the great majority of her citizens, and is recommended 
by many other considerations than mere pecuniary interest. They 
are loth to yield up or desert the homes of their forefathers. They 
find that their natural feelings of independence are gratified, by tread- 
ing habitually their own grounds; that their children grow up ina 
purer atmosphere, far from the temptations of city life. The Com- 
monwealth, too, derives an advantage in the possession of a hardy, 
self-reliant, refined and educated body of citizens, who are, perhaps, 
more warmly attached to her soil, from owning it, and directly super- 
intending its cultivation. But to the existence of this class of popu- 
lation, the certainty of security to isolated families is an absolute 
requisite. Hence, it exists only in countries such as England and the 
United States, which have generally been free from the curse of for- 
eign invasion and internal violence; while in France, Spain, &e., &c., 
itis unknown, with the occasional exception of some feudal Baron, 
who still keeps up an army of retainers, sufficient to ensure his castle 
against a surprise. One of the charms of plantation life consists in the 
pleasant intercourse between master and slave; characterized, as it 
generally is, by the kindness of feeling on both sides. The introduc- 
tion of half a million raw Africans, such as have been described, 
would quickly alter this state of things. The idea of leaving one’s 
family, even for a day, amid a mass of barbarians—vicious, unruly, 
discontented, accustomed to the rule of force, speaking a different lan- 
guage, and never having learned to regard their master as their 
friend—would be revolting to human nature. We would gradually 
come to live asin the West Indies and Europe; proprietors would 
eluster in cities and villages, paying only occasional visits to their 
property ; plantations would soon be held in copartnership, as invest- 
ments, and the only interest felt would be in the factor’s balance. 
The owner would cease to disturb himself about the moral or physical 
condition of his slave. How could he sympathize with creatures with 
whom he could not even converse ? How could he expose his children 
to a gang of savages, accustomed to poison or to murder; or, if he had 
been so unlucky as to purchase out of a nation of that deseription— 
4 


Effect upon 
the State. 


26 


to cannibalism? If perchance his servants died from cruelty, or over 
work, in his absence, the slave trade would offer a cheap substitute, 


‘and there would be no neighborhood of gentlemen to brand him with 


public opinion. We would soon be driven to all those appliances, 
which are necessary where force is acknowledged to be the only lever 
of government. That such a change would take place cannot be 
doubted. To pronounce it desirable would be to offer a senseless in- 
dignity to every owner of a plantation; for though, in argument with 
strangers, we frequently treat the bond between master and slave— 
ensuring protection to the one and obedience to the other—as merely 
pecuniary; yet, we confess to ourselves, that this mode of defending® 
the institution is forced upon us by the necessity of selecting such 
considerations as will be appreciated by our opponents; while every 
slaveholder would be indignant at the thought that those by whom he 
had been surrounded from his youth, had no other claim upon him 
than his’ horse or his ox. The injurious effect of the Slave Trade, 
under this aspect, would be more severely felt in the parishes than in 
the hill country—owing to the great preponderance of the slave popu- 
lation, which always has existed there, and from the nature of the 
climate, always will exist. 

If the relation of individual owners towards their slaves would be 
affected, not less would be the change in the relation of society to the 
subject masses in its bosom. It is a universal opinion abroad, that 
we retain our authority through the ignorance of our slaves as to their 
real strength ; exactly the reverse is the case: we hold it undisputed— 
because of their knowledge of their real strength. An ignorant man 
is controlled only by visible exhibition of power; it requires educa- 
tion—and a considerable degree of education—to enable him to com- 
prehend obedience to the law, as such; to enable him to see, in the 
sheriff, not an individual man, nor the leader of an armed possee, 
but the representative of the latent force of a whole society. This is 
an idea inculeated by knowledge—not ignorance. Prussia is a strik- 
ing instance of the power of education, in causing a nation of brave 
men to submit to an unlimited military despotism. Were our slaves 
ignorant savages, we would, indeed, hold our individual lives by suf- 
ferance. Visible power and authority they would respect, and 
nothing else; hence, it would be necessary to render power visible— 
unseen, it would be despised. Moreover, nations, as well as indi- 
viduals, can be educated to obedience, and the opposite. An African, 
whose ancestors have delighted his youth with tales of war and re- 
sistance to control, grows up with this sentiment strong in his breast; 
the American slave, who has never heard, save of peaceable submis- 


27 


sion, is naturally inclined to submit. Some nations, by being often 
conquered, have been thus rendered permanent cowards, and flee at 
the sight of a soldier or a policeman. We suck in rebellion or obe- 
dience with our mother’s milk. The Americans afford an illustration 
of this principle. Perhaps no nation on the globe is more high tem- 
pered, restless, excitable and violent in resistance to illegitimate 
authority, than the inhabitants of these Southern States; yet, none 
submit with more cheerfulness and alacrity to the commands of the 
law, however disagreeable. The American General at the head of a 
conquering army in Mexico, with a prostrate nation at his feet, was 
ordered to lay down his command and appear before a court martial 5 
he unhesitatingly obeyed the mandate; Mexicans were unable to com- 
prehend such conduct; an American would have been incapable of 
comprehending any other; the one had been educated to law, the 
other to anarchy. Our slaves have been subjected to the same influ- 
ences as ourselves; they obey, without question, the law of their 
position; and as a remarkable consequence, there has not been a 
commotion in the slave population of this, the most decidedly slave 
State in the Union, since the suppression of the Trade, with the single 
exception of 1822, which was entirely owing to emissaries from the 
West Indies; and was, moreover, much exaggerated in the reports of 
the time. Nor is it probable that another will ever take place? A 
partial outbreak they, of course, will not make; and the same knowl- 
edge which would fit them for a general insurrection, will most 
effectually deter them, by showing its utter futility. With the intro- 
duction of savages, a new night would descend ; the very ignorance by 
‘which they would be incapacitated for a grand scheme, would urge 
them to outrages, individual and concerted, of a minor character, for 
which an unknown tongue would afford convenient means of conceal- 
ment. ‘Thefts, murders, plantation riots, would be the order of the 
day, until the old West India system was introduced, to which we 
would soon be driven. 
Such would be the natural effect of the realization of this project, TES 

upon slaves, slaveholders, and the community at large. Hxperience of history. 
corroborates these deductions. The awful character of Roman 
Slavery, where the bond of duty was not correlative, and where it 
was, consequently, not considered improper to expose such slaves as 
had outlived the period of active labor, to starve on an island in the 
Tiber, is well known, and it is also well known that its worst 
features were developed by the wars of the Republic, which, by re- 
ducing whole nations of barbarians to captivity, produced effects 
similar to those of the modern Slave Trade. But it is useless to in- 


28 


vestigate a system, which, im its practical operations, has so Jittle 
similarity ‘to our own. The West India system, in its origin and 
general features, offers many more points of contact, yet we know 
that there the slave was considered a meére instrument of labor; that 
the problem was at a given price, to extort from him the greatest 
amount of work; that the average length of his life, was seven years, 
at the end of which his place was supplied with a new African; that 
the idea of any other than a mere economical relation between them, 
never entered into the brain of either—the negro exchanged an 
African for.an American master, whether the exchange were beneficial 
depended upon circumstances—that one desideratum was to prevent 
his killing himself or his master, being from his barbarous nature, 
prone to do both; that the means of control were suited to the nature 
of the authority; chains, cartwhips, swords, barracons were in ordi- 
nary use on every plantation. Certainly there was an essential differ- 
ence between their system and ours. Nor is the history of Carolina 


Of the ante- devoid of the teachings of experience to those who are willing to be 


revolutiona- 
ry history of 


this State. 


taught. One peculiarity of the ante-revolutiouary system, was the 
great apprehension manifested of certain offences, which now rarely 
occur, or if. so, are not attended with serions consequences. Runa- 
ways seem to have been, as in the West Indies, great objects of dread ; 
every variety of punishment was invented to deter them, and perhaps 
not without reason, as contemporaneous narratives show them to have 
filled the woods, and to have been of the most desperate character, 
recognizable only by the brand of their owner burnt in upon them. 
Another was the continual fear of insurrection, for which there was 
ample justification. Another was the cruel corporeal nature of the 
punishments prescribed.. A glance at the statute book, will bring 
these facts into relief. 

Offering violence to a christian white person, was punished, for the 
second offence, by splitting the nose and burning the face, for the 
third offence, death. (A. A. 1690, sec. 1., A. A. 1712, sec. 17.) 
For petty larceny, the punishment was, second offence, cutting off the 
ear, or branding on the forehead; third offence, splitting the nose; 
fourth offence, death. (A. A. 1712, sec. 10.) 

Every Captain was required to pursue and capture a runaway, dead 
or alive. (A. A. 1690, sec. 9.) For the first offence, the punish- 
ment was whipping; for the second, branding with the letter R.; for 
the third, cutting off the ear; for the fourth, gelding; for the fifth, 
cutting off one leg, or death. (A. A. 1712, sec. 19.) 

The Act of 1751, reciting that poisonings had become very frequent, 


proceeds to denounce an especial punishment upon that horrible 
crime, &c., &e., &e. 


29 


Indeed the punishments upon slaves were entirely different from 
those now existing, and from those imposed at the time upon the 
whites—an appeal being made in the one case to the body, in the 
other to the moral nature. Most of the offences above mentioned have 
disappeared, or have ceased to excite apprehension, and the penalties 
have been forgotten, in so much that few know they ever existed — 
What was the reason of this change? Why is it that our government gauso of this 
of slaves is so different from what it was in the last century, or is now ®"e7’- 
in the West Indies? Something is undoubtedly due to the progress 
of the world, and to the fact, that we have been subjected to all the 
elevating influences of republican government, which has taught us 
the difficult lesson of self-restraint. Knowing no superior, we are 
free from that petty tyranny, so universally characteristic of those who 
have themselves a master. It is a pardonable vanity to suppose this 
form of government best calculated to develope all that is noble and 
generous in a people. But our ancestors, though not republicans, 
were in most respects free as ourselves. Neither can this difference 
be ascribed to their former cruelty of disposition. Refinement and 
humanity were their possession in England and France, and were 
cherished by them also in the forests of America. Bigotry and say- 
age intolerence formed no part of their character; they were not 
witch-burners or quaker-hangers, nor did they in the mere wanton- 
ness of despotism enact unnecessary Blue Laws. In all their troubles © 
they never forgot that their origin was in the upper, not the lower 
classes of the fatherland. Indced, it was found necessary to impose 
in these very statutes, heavy penalties upon such masters as should 
neglect or refuse to inflict the cruel punishments prescribed, proving 
that they were revolting to the spirit of individuals, but deemed by 
the collective legislative wisdom necessary to the security of the State. 
But it is useless to speculate upon the causes of this severity; they 
are set forth in the preambles to the statutes themselves—that to the 
Act of 1712 is as follows: ‘* Whereas the plantations and estates of 
«this Province cannot be well and sufficiently managed and brought 
“into use without the labor and service of negroes, and other slaves, 
“and forasmuch as the negroes and other slaves brought among the 
“neople of this Province for that purpose are of barbarous, wild and 
“savage natures, such as renders them wholly unqualified to be gov- 
erned by the laws, customs and practices of this Province, but that 
“it is absolutely necessary that such other constitutions, laws and or- 
“ders should in this Province be made and enacted for the good regu- 
“lating and ordering of them, as mry restrain the disorders, rapines 
“and inhumanity to which they are naturally prone and inclined, and 


30 


“may also tend to the safety and security of the people of this Pro- 
“ vince and. their estates, Be it therefore, &c., &c.” That to the A. 
A. of 1740, says, ‘‘ Whereas, the great importation of negroes from 
“the coast of Africa, who are generally of a barbarous and savage dis- 
‘‘ position, may hereafter prove of very dangerous consequence to the 
“peace and safety of this Province, and which we have now more 
‘reason to be apprehensive of, from the late rising in rebellion of a 
‘great number of negroes, lately imported into this Province from the 
“coast of Africa, in the thickest settlements of this Province, and bar- 
‘‘ barously murdering upwards of twenty persons of his Majesty’s faith- 
‘ful subjects of this Province, within about twenty miles from the 
“ Qapital of this Province, &c., &c.” The preambles to various Acts 
are substantially the same. Here, then, we have this mystery re- 
vealed. We at length understand why a runaway should be so fear- 
ful a character; why poisonings should be so common as,to attract es- 
pecial legislative notice; why petty larceny should be so incorrigible. 
The African was of ‘a barbarous, wild and savage nature,” ‘‘ natu- 
rally prone to disorders, rapines and inhumanity,” in his own country ; 
transferring him among a people whom he did: not know, and with 
whom he could not converse, did not alter these traits. Accustomed 
to obey only visible manifestations of brute force, it was necessary to 
adopt the same machinery here to accomplish the same end; hence, 
the cutting off of ears, branding, splitting of noses, cutting off of legs. 
It was necessary to appeal to his physical senses. What did he know 
of duty? What did he care for a moral rebuke? He must see his 
blood flow. That had always been in hiseyes the appropriate method 
of manifesting disapprobation, and that alone did he comprehend.— 
Such a character, escaped into the swamps, was, indeed, a terror to the 
neighborhood ; famishing with hunger, without the means of speech, 
which might enable him to impose on a passer-by—restrained by no 
idea of right or wrong, he plunged at night, like a ravenous wolf, on 
sleeping households, or attacked in bands, with staves and poles, the 
unwary traveller. What hope was there of permanently reforming 
such a creature from theft? The offending member must be cut off 
on slight provocation, lest it infect the sound. Such was the surge- 
ry requisite, and such was the surgery employed. , 
The military The regulations for securing the’ province against insurrections, 
Sor (mere local affairs it is true, but very bloody, ). originated in the same 
causes, slave huts were to be carefully searched at certain periods for 
concealed weapons, guns, clubs, &c., &c.; every master was required 
to keep his gun ‘‘ ia the most private and least frequented room in the 
house,” every white man under sixty, was to go to church with, and 


31 


earry into the church,” his musket and six rounds, and the Church 
Wardens were to enforce this regulation ; penalties were imposed upon 
the neglect to comply with these laws. Nor need the apprehension of 
our ancestors seem idle; surrounded by a population as they have 
described it, such precautions were eminently necessary, and were 
tested on more than one occasion. ‘The West Indies furnish a la- 
mentable instance of the folly of filling the country with a prepon- 
derating number of barbarians. In Jamaica, for instance, the ratio 
in 1821, is said to have been as 28,000 whites to 345,000 slaves. 
Consequently, when the mother country, like Saturn of old, raised her 
hand to destroy them, they succumbed without a struggle; the dis- 
jointed fragments of their former society floated awhile upon a sea of 
enemies, and then disappeared forever. In those Islands, where the 
contest lay between master and slave, similar causes produced similar 
results. It would be woful statesmanship to overlook this effect of a 
revival of the slave trade, when the history of our own country, and 
the West Indies, shows that in such an event, commotions must be 
frequent, and will always be excited by discontented Africans. The 
great Jamaica Rebellion of 1760 commenced on a plantation, where 
the slaves had been well treated, and was entirely owing to a negro, 
who had been a chief in his own country, and was hence particularly 
restive in slavery. Nor do we enjoy an immunity from foreign inva- 
sion. Suppose, then, the revival of the slave trade to be accompanied 
by allits anticipated advantages, that the whites be merely the di- 
rectors, each of a great number of slaves, in the ratio of directing to 
executing power; suppose this to be the only occupation for a white 
man, we should be confronted by the fatal example of the West Indies, 
where this system existed in perfection, where the masters were 
afraid to appeal to arms against the mother country, lest a decree of 
emancipation should raise a wave of barbaric ferocity to overwhelm 
them. Such a state of things would render us as it did them, sloth- 
ful, idle, sensual, without energy or the capacity of resistance, and 
exposed to the insults of every opponent. Ina mere military point 
of view, then, the slave trade would work a serious injury by sur- 
younding our hearths with a race who would be enemies in peace and 


in war. 
- Another and most important lesson is taught us by history. It is Its effect up- 
difficult to ascertain the exact number of Africans imported into the my, 7 AR 


ave popu- 


West Indies since the opening of the trade, but it is probably greater Ban: 
than supposed; some have estimated it for the British Islands alone 
‘at 1,700,000, others at 2,100,000; others higher still. After 178 
years, but 780,993 remained to be registered for emancipation. Be- 


32 


tween 1680 and 1776 a period of ninety-six years, 800,000 negroes, 
it is said, were imported into Santo Domingo; at the latter date 
290,800 remained. The decrease in Cuba has been estimated by 
competent authorities at from five to ten per cent. per annum. Thus 
statistics disclose the fearful fact, that in a climate similar to their 
own, surrounded by tropical abundance, the African slave population 
has not even preserved itself in the course of nature, but despite the 
continued renovation, has decreased at the rate of hundreds per cent. 
in the century, The fact is universally admitted, and in the British 
Parliament was urged by the advocates of the Slave Trade as an 
argument for keeping open a source of supply. In the United States 
a gratifying difference meets the view. The whole number imported 
has been estimated at 400,000. Since the year 1790 the increase 
has been at the rate of twenty-eight per cent. for every decade, and 
the actual number is now some four millions. By reference to the 
character of the importation, this fact will be placed in a still more 
striking point of view. For obvious reasons the Africans imported are 
seldom without the ages of fifteen and forty, thus in the prime of life, 
and best calculated to increase the population among which they are 
diffused. The proportion of female slaves in the United States, be- 
tween these ages, is about twenty per cent. of the whole number of 
slaves, and of both males and females in like manner, about forty per 
cent.; the ratio of increase then to the latter, instead of twenty-eight 
would be seventy per cent., and to the former one hundred and forty 
per cent. for each decade. Now, why should the slave population 
decrease in a country similar to their own, and increase in one alto- 
gether different? What can have overcome the disadvantage of 
climate and produced such contrary results? So irreconcileable a dif- 
ference in the result, must be owing to some radical difference between 
the two systems. They resemble each other in every respect but one, 
and that is the existence of the Slave Trade; under the one system it 
flourished without limitation, under the other it never existed to any 
great extent, was almost suppressed from 1790, and absolutely from 
1808. In the one, the various considerations already alluded to, de- 
barred the African from the-benefit of his master’s solicitude, while his 
cheapness deprived him of any hold upon the inferior motives. His 
original vices were not eradicated, they were merely accommodated to | 
the new society in which he was placed; polygamy became promis- 
cuous concubinage, brutal debaucheries undermined his health, and 
continued labor completed the work of ruin. In America the prompt- 
ings of nature and self-interest alike contributed to produce the oppo- 
site result. Surrounded in his manhood by the descendants of those 


a — eae. hee, eee 
, 


88 

who had cultivated the paternal acres in his youth, it was impossible 
for the American planter to be indifferent to their welfare; the kind 
feelings of early days were exchanged on the one hand for the re- 
spectful attachment and obedience of age, and on the other for a be- 
nevolent superintendence; nature revolted at treating one in such a 
connection as a mere instrument of toil. The ties of marriage were 
acknowledged and respected; the claims of helpless youth and feeble 
old age recognized, and not only moral, but physical wants supplied ; 
if the cares of a parent sometimes failed, those of a master were ever 
present. Hence this rapid increase, which would be impossible under 
the grinding rule of a tyranny; the fact is at once the consequence 
and proof of the kindest treatment. Nor is the continuance of this 
situation dependant upon virtue alone, from the influence of which, a 
considerable portion of mankind would be exempt, for the dictates of 
worldly advantage counsel the same course to those who are devoid of 
the finer sensibilities ; ill-treatment is sure to be followed by a loss, 
for which there is no Slave Trade to afford a cheap compensation. 
Both classes of owners are thus urged by the motives respectively 
most congenial to their natures to adopt the same course. Revive 
the Slave Trade and all this will vanish ; we sball again find it neces- 
sary to prescribe by statute the manner of feeding slaves, lest they be 
compelled from want of nourishment, to seek refuge and subsistence 
in the forest. 

In taking leave of this part of the subject, it will not be amiss to gyeteh of the 
review cursorily the legislation of South Carolina, in reference to the aoe hie 
question. The British, having wrested the Asiento from the Span- Bae 
iards, extended greatly their commerce with Africa, and enjoyed until 
1776, a monopoly of supplying the Carolina slave market. After 
the peace of 1783, the New Englanders obtained a participation in its 
profits. In the early history of the Colony individuals, mostly for- 
eigners, holding high positions under the government, were interested 
in this traffic, and it flourished greatly, the evil effects of which were 
soon felt, as will be apparent from the statutes enacted. The A. A. 
of 1698, for the encouragement of the importation of white servants, 
after the following preamble :—“Whereas, the great number of negroes 
which: have of late, been imported into this Colony, may endanger 
the safety thereof, if speedy measures be not taken, and encourage- 
ment given for the importation of white servants’”—requires each 
planter to take one white servant for every six negroes, &e , Xe. 

The A. A. of 1712, “for the more effectual preventing of the ~ 
spreading of contagious disorders” rests upon the following founda- 
tion: ‘Whereas, great numbers of the inhabitants of this Province 
5 


&, 
ha, 


34 


have been destroyed by malignant, contagious diseases, brought here 
from Africa, and other parts of America, &c.” Among those enume- 
rated, are plague, spotted fever, Siam distemper and Guinea fever. » 

The A. A. of 1714, after the following preamble: ‘ And whereas, 
the number of negroes do extremely increase in this Province, and 
through the afflicting Providence of God, the white persons do not 
proportionably multiply, by reason whereof the safety of the said 
Province is greatly endangered, for the prevention of which, for the 
future, &c., &c.,” imposes an additional duty of £2 upon every slave 
over twelve years imported ‘‘from any part of Africa.” 

The A. A. of 1716, ‘‘to encourage the importation of white servants 
into this Province,” after the preamble, ‘ Whereas, said expericnee 
has taught us, that the small number of white inhabitants of this 
Province, is not sufficient to defend the same, even against our Indian 
enemies; and whereas, the number of slaves is daily increasing in 
this Province, which may likewise endanger the safety thereof, if 
speedy care be not taken to encourage the importation of white ser- 
vants,” requires planters to take one for every ten slaves, &c., &c. 

The A. A. of 1717, after the preamble, ‘‘ And whereas, the great 
importation of negroes into this Province, in proportion to the white 
inhabitants of the same, whereby the future safety of this Province 
will be greatly endangered, for the prevention thereof, &c., &ec.,” im- 
poses an additional duty of £40 upon every negro slave, ‘of any 
age or condition, whatsoever, and from any part of the world.” 

The A. A. of 1744, ‘for the further preventing the spreading of 
malignant and contagious disorders,” has the following preamble, 
‘‘ Whereas, it hath been found by experience, that since the importa- 
tion of negroes and slaves from the coast of Africa into this Province, 
hath been prohibited, this Province in general, and Charleston in 
particular, hath been much more healthy than heretofore it hath been, 
&e., &e.” y 

The A. A. of 1740, and the A. A. of 1751 following out the Act 
of 1716, imposes a tax upon the importation of slaves, to be devoted 
to the encouragement of white servants. | 

The A. A. of 1764, after the preamble ‘« Whereas, the importation 
of negroes, equal in number to what have been imported of late years, 
may prove of the most dangerous consequence, in many respects, to 
this Province, and the best way to obviate such dangers, will be by 
imposing such additional duty upon them, as may totally prevent the 
evils,” imposes an additional duty of £100. 

The A. A. of 1787, enacts that no negro or other slave, shall be 


imported under the penalty of forefeiture, unless master come in to 


reside, 


ee ee, 


35 


Another A. A. of 1787, both before the adoption of the Federal 
Connstitution, enacts, ‘that any person importing or bringing into 
this State, a negro slave, contrary to the Act to regulate the recovery 
of debts, and prohibiting the importation of negroes, shall, besides the 
forfeiture of such negro or slave, be liable to a penalty of £100, in 
addition to the forfeiture, in and by said Act prescribed.” 

The A. A. of 1788, prohibits the importation of negroes or other 
slaves, unless at that time the property of citizens of the United States, 
and within the limits of the United States, under of forfeiture and 
£100. ) 

The A. A. of 1792, after the preamble, ‘‘ Whereas, it is deemed 
inexpedient to increase the number of slaves within the State, in our 
present circumstances and condition,” prohibits the importation of 
slaves from Africa, the West Indies, or other places beyond seas, for 
two years. 

By A. A. of 1794 extended to 1797. 

The A. A. of 1796, after the preamble, “Whereas, it appears to 
be highly impolitic to import negroes from Africa, or other place be- 
yond seas,” prohibits such importation till 1799, under pain of forfei- 
ture, and a fine upon the Captains. 

By A. A.-of 1798 extended to 1801. 

And by A. A. of 1800 extended to 1808. 

In 1803, all the existing Acts were repealed, and the restriction 
against importation was confined to South America, the West Indies, 
and the other States of the Confederacy, unless in case of the last, a 
certificate be filed with the Clerk of the Court “under the hands of 
two Magistrates, and the seal of the Clerk of the Court of the Dis- 
trict, where the said negro or negroes have resided for the last twelve 
months, previous to the date of the certificate, that such negro or ne- 
groes, are persons of good character, and have not been concerned in 
any insurrection or rebellion.” 

It is apparent from this sketch, that the injurious tendency of the SG 
importation of barbarism, is not an idea originating with yankee abo- drawn, 
litionists, and forced upon the reluctant South asa stigma; it was ai 
recognized in Carolina as far back as 1714; nor was it then, the 
creature of sickly and maudlin equivocators, who had neither the 
firmness to give up the institution which they deplored and excused, 
nor to follow it to its legitimate deductions. There was no hint of 
abolition, no distrust of slavery, but these sterling citizens had sufli- 
‘cient wisdom to perceive a vast difference between a system of 
civilized, and a system.of barbarian slavery. The great historical 
Carolinians of 1789 and 1791, many of whom were violently opposed 
to this grant of power to the Federal Government, never supposed 


Ditto. 


Dittoin a 
military 
point of 
view. 


06 


themselves thereby committed to an approval of the slave trade, nor 
thought that their condemnation of this latter would be inconsistent 
with fidelity to the institution itself. They were keenly alive to the 
necessity of developing it at home, of keeping it free from all foreign 
impurities. Hence the preambles; hence the prohibitions of impor- 
tation from Africa, or even from other sister States, unless with 
evidence of good character. The restriction against importation from 


Africa was removed a few years previous to 1808, but this was owing’ 


to the impossibility of preventing evasion of our laws, through the 
want of a State navy, and it was thought better to bring them di- 
rectly from Africa, than receive them through New York, as pre- 
tended Americans; that the sentiment of the State underwent no 
change, is proved by the subsequent unanimous vote of her delega- 
tion in Congress. It is to the wise statesmanship of these men, that 
is owing the present felicitous condition of our laboring population. 
The progress of a joint civilization since that time, has rendered the 
treatment of slaves throughout the Union nearly the same ; there is, 
therefore, no longer any reason for the suspicion which formerly ex- 
isted with respect to negroes from other States, and all laws against 
their importation have been repealed. But every day widens the dis- 


tance between the American and the native African slave, and the 


wisdom which counselled the passage of existing laws would impera- 
tively demand their continuauce, = 

This sketch discloses moreover, that the barbarians themselves 
were not the only barbarous things introduced by the slave trade; it 
was accompanied by all manner of horrid diseases, which were not 
confined to the City of Charleston alone, but spread through the 
length and breadth of the land irrespective of locality and climate. 
The West Indies have long labored under this affliction; certain 
species of maladies, as certain species of sharks, having followed in the 
wake of the slavers from the Bight of Benin to the Bay of Havana. 

It shows, too, that they were not insensible to the necessity in a 
military point of view, of maintaining a due proportion between the 
dominant and servient races; the slave trade was accompanied by 
plans for the importation of a corresponding number of white servants. 
The Message prefers African slaves to European laborers; fortunately 
we are not compelled to choose between the two; our own white 


population increases with sufficient rapidity for the slaves we have. 


But when it is proposed to flood the land with barbarians, why is not 
some plan devised for at least retaining our own inhabitants at home. 
A vast tide has distributed throughout. the West, one hundred and 


eighty-six thousand four hundred and seventy-nine native white Caro-. 


linians of all classes, whose virtues reflect honor upon the land of their 


tel 


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ys 37 


birth, but who are no longer devoted to her advancement. What 
means can be devised of preventing this evil, it is difficult to say ; 
certainly the importation of barbarians will not render South Carolina 
amore attractive residence either to rich or poor, and it would be 
questionable statesmanship, to embrace what the experience of history, 
and particularly our own, has shown to be an evil, without providing 
in advance some antidote. 

Such are some of the objections to this measure; the subject is not general 
exhausted; many yet remain. The proposition cannot be entertained °"°""°™’ 
at all, unless beneficial to the State, but the converse does not follow ; 
it could be easily shown, that there is a vast difference between bring- 
ing a Virginia negro to Carolina, where he finds nothing changed, 
except the sky above him, and catching one in Africa to sell him into 
a land in every respect foreign—but this would lead into another line 
of argument. 

The principal question having thus been disposed of, viz: whether Would the 


the revival of the Slave Trade would be advantageous to South Car- neneficial. 


: ° 5 : : 3 eit he - ist. Upon 
olina, there remain certain minor points, which it is necessary to dis- the supposi- 


cuss, and suppose for this purpose, that the revival of the Slave Trade ees 
would be benfficial to the State; is it desirable that the question eae 
should be made an issue? Few will pretend that this measure is a “*"°™ 
vital necessity, a matter of such overwhelming importance as to oc- 
cupy the whole political horizon, as did the claim of a right to tax 
America in 1776. Will the advantages resulting from its agitation 
equal the disadvantages? Place out of view its impracticability ; ad- 
mit for argument’s sake, that it is practicable; that the nations at 
present so violently opposed to it, can be induced by soft words or 
hard blows, to withdraw their opposition, so far as we are concerned ; 
7. the repeal of the acts of Congress can be obtained. It is unde- 
niable that a large majority of the people of the South, particularly 
of those who take no active part in political agitation, is opposed to 
the proposition, and that if put to the vote in this State to-morrow, it 
could not obtain one-tenth the suffrages. And the opposition is 
based, not upon considerations of expediency alone, but the mere idea 
arouses with many, a feeling of horror and disgust; husbands and 
fathers shudder at surrounding what is most precious to them with 
the perils of a heathen barbarism. As has been truly said, slave- 
holders would not view with gratification, a decline in the price of 
their slaves; every class and condition of society would have cause 
of dissatisfaction, and the contest would be fierce and bitter indeed ; 
for the inducement would be the sanctity of our firesides. It would 
require long years of unremitting exertion and argument, of continued 
and violent struggling to produce a preponderance of sentiment in 


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favor of the measure such as now exists against it; until then, the 
South would be rent with convulsive struggles and pass through all 
the phases of dissension which lie between unanimity on one side and 
unanimity on the other; slaveholders would, perhaps, be arrayed 
against each other; the Northern and Southern slave States would 
echo with mutual recriminations as the slave-breeding and slave-de- 
stroying States, while the lurid glare of the abolitionist millenium oe 
would illuminate the unnatural warfare. The present does not appear __ 
to the undersigned, a propitious time for entering upon such acon- __ 
test. It is true, the South has both greater power to resist and less 
cause to fear unconstitutional aggression now, than ever; she has, in 

the main, carried off the victory on all the great points which have 
been contested, and enjoys the satisfaction of having obtained the re- 
cognition of her constitutional rights, without committing aggression 
upon any other member of the Confederacy; we have conquered a 
peace, but who can prophecy its perpetual duration? Should Carolina 
occupy this respite in sowing dissension broadcast throughout the 
South? No; let it rather be spent in increasing her physical power, 
developing her resources, reconciling the dissensions among her chil- 
dren and sisters and consolidating by every means in her power the 
fabric of their greatness. ven, therefore, if the Slave Trade were 
beneficial there would be little room for hesitation in this point of 
view between its advantages and-disadvantages. 

Suppose, on the other hand, that the Slave Trade would be inju- 
rious to South Carolina; is the agitation of the question desirable? 
This will seem to many astrange question, but it must be met. It is 
not intended to impute directly or indirectly, a want of sincerity to 
the supporters of the measure; of course there will be in this, as in 
every other party, men destitute of political principle and influenced 

re stbpesi. ODly by motives of self-interest; it would be beneath the dignity of 

timofa the Legislature to notice such; but a great many worthy persons are 

answer. honestly disposed to make issues with the North from a spirit of pure 
combativeness, without regard to the ostensible cause. The under- 
signed does not boast an entire exemption from this failing, and is 
hence disposed to view it with leniency in others. There can be no 
greater mistake in politics than this; combativeness is a capital quality 
in action, but in council most useless andinjurious. In taking a false 
position, we voluntarily move down from our stronghold and offer the 
enemy an advantage; it is possible to enter battle with the eyes 
closed, but it requires a marvellous constitution to keep them closed 
after the first stroke, when the weakness of our defence must be dis- 
cerned, and who has not experienced the strength of that armour 
which consists in the conviction of a quarrel just? a defeat would, — 
sooner or later, be inevitable, for, in the affairs of the world, truth — 
must eventually prevail. he subject is too important to justify us in 
assuming any ground not fortified by both justice and expediency. 
More particularly, would it be unfortunate for the South, to take a 
false step, since all the propositions she has hitherto advanced, have 
been sustained by the returning good sense of the people, and as we 
are to fight a moral as well as a political battle, it is highly desirable 
that we should continue to be right. ‘ul 


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If, then, it be not for the advantage of South Carolina to revive the Should 
Slave Trade, nor yet to agitate the question, is it desirable that she Hina ata 
should strive to procure the repeal of the existing laws upon the Has he aie oF 
subject? It has already been shown that these laws were passed with laws. 
the approbation and votes of her Representatives in Congress, acting 
in full sympathy with their constituents, and that it is impossible 
under the circumstances, to attach any discredit to the institution, 
from laws which we ourselves have enacted. For whose sake, then, 
- would this repeal be obtained? ot course, no African would be im- 
ported here, for, by supposition, that would be injurious to Carolina, 
apd not desirable. Ifthe State would not profit by its revival neither 
would her citizens. Previous to 1808, it was carried on mostly by 
New England men and New England capital, with agencies estab- 
lished in Charleston, and since that period, it has a clandestine exist- 
ence only, at the North. No instance can be adduced of a native 
Carolinian’s being implicated in the remotest degree. Our people 
have manifested no partiality for thiscommerce, whether from a moral 
repugnance or from a pride that scorns such an occupation, cannot be 
ascertained; the fact is so. The advantage, then, of such a move- 
ment, on the part of the State, would accrue to the traders themselves 
and to Yankee capitalists—strangers who owe her no allegiance, and 
have no claims upon her protection. Whatever may be said of the 
trade itself, few eulogiums can be passed upon those who are engaged 
in the prosecution of it. The horrors of the Middle Passage have cer- 
tainly not been exaggerated, nor is it possible to exaggerate the crimes 
which will be committed by such men, when engaged in an occupation 
where a death penalty stares them continually in the face. Nor would 
the impolicy of existing laws be any excuse for their conduct. Is 
there, then, any reason which would justify South Carolina in volun- 
teering to throw her mantle around these outcasts, whose crimes have 
everywhere driven them beyond the pale of humanity? can we refrain 
from blushing at the suggestion and from shrinking with horror at the 
thought of such contamination? Never! let her preserve in jealous 
purity, the character which has been handed down to her from former 
generations; and if these men need an advocate, let him be sought 
among those who were born upon the same soil and nurtured by the 
same Heaven. ’ 
In the preceding discussion, reference to such topics as might ap- The position 
-peal to prejudice rather than reason, has been studiously avoided. If ehouiapess 
ever there was an occasion, when the happiness of South Carolina aes ae 
should be the object of solicitude and wise deliberation, it is this; but sin 
the time for deliberation once past, any hesitation is fraught with in- 
finitefevil. The question having been brought directly before the 
Legislature, a year devoted to its consideration, and there remaining 
scarcely the shadow of a doubt as to the sentiments of the State, it is 
~ desirable that her position should no longer be equivocal. The under- 
signed, therefore, recommends the adoption of the following resolu- 
tions, embodying to a certain extent, the sentiments contained in the 
preceding report: a 
Ist. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Body, the introduction Resolutions 
of barbarians, whether slave or free, from any part of the world, would “seg 
_ pe injurious to the best interests of the State of South Carolina. 


tals Bes 


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2d. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Body, an endorsement by 
the Legislature of the proposition to revive the African Slave Trade, 
would be calculated to sow dissension throughout the South at a time 
when its union is necessary to its safety. 

3d. Resolved, That, inasmuch as citizens of South Carolina do not ~ 
participate in the prosecution of the African Slave Trade, this State 
feels little interest in the species of punishment denounced against the <e 
violators of the law of the United States upon the subject, and would © ~ 
consider any effort on her part in the existing division of sentiment at — 
the South, to procure their repeal, as unnecessary and impolitic in * 
the last degree. Respectfully submitted, 

J. JOHNSTON PETTIGREW. 


Among the various criticisms on this Report, appeared one, purporting to 
be a refutation, the burden of which was, that J and those who agreed with 
me in opinion, were selfish, haughty, rice and sea-island cotton planting, 
South Carolina Aristocrats, abounding in negroes, and desirous of pre- 
venting the “poor, unpretending” corn planter, from having his share, in 
short, developing and endorsing with much frankness, the argument consid- 
ered on page 20, of this pamphlet. Circumstances connected with its re- 
publication, drew from me a letter, a portion of which I hereunto append, 
as it supplies what would otherwise seem to be an omission in the Report, 
as presented: 

“Some of the positions taken by me, having been incorrectly stated, 
I will, with your permission, state them correctly. As you are aware, 

I was substituted on the Committee about an hour before the Reports were 
presented, for the express purpose of submitting a Minority Report, and, ~ 
consequently, had not, at that time, read the Majority Report, nor was I 
singular in this respect. A 

The principal question presented to my mind, by the Governor’s Mes- 
sage, was the one discussed by me. The African Squadron was not men- 
tioned in that document. I am in favor of abrogating the 8th Article of the 
Treaty of Washington, for a variety of reasons. I do not consider the 
Slave Trade piracy, indeed, the contrary is almost expressly admitted in the 
Report; but the propriety of making a sectional issue on these two points, 
is a different matter. I thought then, and think still, that they are of very 
minor importance, and do not believe that five hundred people in the State, : 
care a Straw about the subject. And so, the question of introducing a bar- 
barian population into Louisiana or Texas, if those States desire it, is a dif- 
ferent question, to be discussed when that desire is manifested. It is, cer- 
tainly truc, that all of these matters are secondary, in my opinion, to the 
great question (to us,) of introducing it into South Carolina, and upon this 
question, the Minority Report is notin so small a minority, even in the — 
Committee, as seems to be supposed. 

It is very puerile to descend to such personalities in discussing a question 
of State policy, but, perhaps, I will be justified in sayinig, by way of reply, 
that the plantations in which I am most interested, are grain plantations be- — 
yond the Cape Fear. 1t may be, therefore, that the re-opening of the Slave — 
Trade would benefit me, as an individual. All things considered,lam of 
a different opinion; but even if I were not, my duty required me to regard 
the Shes of the whole State of South Carolina, and not my own peculiar 
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